“Late Island” on the top right and the eruption on Lateiki Island. The red outline zoomed in image on the right is the new island of Lateiki. Left image taken from NASA’s Worldview Aqua/MODIS satellite taken on the 14th Oct 2019.

A new bigger island has formed following an eruption at Lateiki Island (aka Metis Shoal) last month 13 – 31 October, The remnants of the former island have submerged.

The island is located between Kao and Late in the Ha’apai group of Tonga.

Satelite imagery of the new island was released today in a new report by the Tonga Geological Service of the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Natural Resources. Geologist Taaniela Kula said the new island is estimated to be about 100m wide and 400m long, and emerges 120m to the west of its submerged predecessor. The report says that the new Lateiki island is three times bigger than the original. The original Lateiki island, was formed in by an eruption in 1995. There have been many previous eruptions.

The latest eruption was first reported to the Tonga Meteorological Services (TMS) at Fua’amotu on the morning of 14 October by a Tongan vessel MVNgutulei. Further reports and of photos of the island were made by aircrafts from Real Tonga and Air New Zealand, and by the Matafonua Lodge on Foa island, Ha’apai.

Potential Hazards

The report advised that although the eruption had ceased, Lateiki may still be emitting gas such as sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide causing the discoloration of seawater.

A photo taken of Lateiki from an Air NZ flight from Auckland to Samoa on the 21st October 2019 at 6:25pm local time

A photo of the of the original Lateiki Island in 2013, Kao Island in the background. Photo source: GNS, NZ.

Left: Lateiki Island before eruption on the 10th October. Right: erupting Lateiki on the 15th October 2019. Source: GNS, NZ.

Left: 16th October 2019, Lateiki eruptions forming thick clouds of smoke. Right: 1st November 2019, eruption has ceased with an emerged elongated island to the westside of where the previous island was located. Source: GNS, NZ.